Among the many peoples who settled the northern plains, few left a deeper mark than the Norwegians, who came by the tens of thousands from the crowded valleys and hard farms of the old country to claim a homestead on the open prairie. They arrived in such numbers that whole townships spoke Norwegian in the church and the store, and the plains became, in a real sense, a new Norway in the west.

From the Fjords to the Furrows

They brought their Lutheran faith, their language, and their foods — the lefse and lutefisk and rømmegrøt that still appear at church suppers and holiday tables generations later. The country's rolling grain land, so like and unlike the homeland, rewarded their famous diligence, and they prospered as farmers and townsfolk.

From the almanac's reckoning:

• Tens of thousands of Norwegian immigrants homesteaded the plains.
• Norwegian was spoken in many prairie churches and stores.
• Foods like lefse and lutefisk endure at plains tables today.

Their descendants remain among the most numerous on the plains, and their heritage is celebrated each autumn at great Scandinavian festivals. The almanac counts the Norwegian settlement among the defining migrations that made the plains what they are.